PRDATR

Congrats on releasing it. As a life long fisherman going on six decades one of the biggest fish I caught (in my avatar) I just felt compelled to release after almost a half hour fight.

The article mentions the person who is the driving force behind the change. He is in the leadership of the local branch of a national environmental group and also happens to be a former town councilman. He has the ears of a lot of people. Education not regulation is the answer. Possibly we can get some volunteers to spend some time there picking up the stray line and helping kids catch fish. One or two people a few hours a day or whenever they can be the could act as a sort of Steward and educating kids about the perils of tossing line and other stuff in the water would be a good thing. Adults and other kids know tossing their line in the water has it's consequences and nothing speaks louder than peer pressure or having a kid call you out.

BOTTOM LINE. SUPPORT YOUR KIDS AND AS YOU MATURE AS AN ADULT AND A PARENT YOU WILL LEARN TO CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES. My daughter hated the texture of meat but CHOSE later to eat whatever we, as a family, ate. There are much more important things in life than this. Enjoy your kids because with the flick of a light switch you could wake up to an empty bed where your child used to sleep and they are gone forever. We, as parents are the protectors and try to pass on our knowledge on to them. But at some point we need to sit back and see what they can teach us. Just like when we were there.

Racism has been around since the beginning of mankind and will be here when the last human turns to dust. I like to refer to it as "indifference" since it really is color blind. You can look into the past and see indigenous people warring on each other and enslaving the conquered.

Way to go. It's great to have kids along.

Anyone have a wide foot and care to recommend a light EEEE boot?. I am going on 4 years in Pronghorns but they are only EE.

Hey Dogman, was that an OTC Tag?

What calls were you using? In the past I used mouth calls and a dual chamber commercial box call with mixed results. I don't think I've become a better caller per say but this year I picked up a call from Ammon at Little Creek Calls and after trying a couple of his calls at the seminar he put on at Sportsmans I found one that just seemed to sound perfect, very mellow and consistent. It really gave me a lot of confidence and I believe it was key to my success this year. The birds that did come in were already off the roost. The first pair I called to came in from 200 yards at about 6-15am and the other two at about 7am from about 75 yards.

Congrats on the "Snow Bird" LOL. Those stats were the same for the one I shot in 27 last Friday morning. He was a heavy bird and came in on a string with another bird.

Xnt, It means an established campground like Ponderosa or Woods Canyon up on the Rim. At least that is my understanding of it. One that either has a Camp Host or is at least maintained by the State or the Forest Service. If you are not sure then do what I do and call one of the District Offices. http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/map/state_list.shtml http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3798435.pdf

There is a bit of info out there on the Net but most of it appears to not get posted here on CWT. From what I've read, if AZG&F came on board they would eventually be the Stewards of the whole program and the Feds will bow out after a "Goal" is achieved, with the expectation (guarantee) the program continues inevitably. As I understand it once Wolves are established the cost of the program will come from AZG&F ( with some possible Fed Funds) and they will just be another thing to manage. What I fail to comprehend is why the other 27 Groups are involved!

This is about as hard to follow as a Hemingway Novel. It reads like bits and pieces from some college kids thesis. How about deciphering it without all the reference notes so my feeble brain can comprehend the jist of what pertinent vernacular is relevant. This whole thread still has not addressed the question of why 28 groups are on board with this. Our members are a conglomeration of PHD's and Knuckle Draggers so certainly some members should be able to come forth with some information.

They were posted on the 18th. Take a gas grill so you can cook. The State is tinder dry and no matter how careful you are a gust will scatter the embers. I was scouting for Turkeys two weeks ago and a family who was on a Junior Turkey hunt packed up late Saturday morning and went back home. I walked through their campsite and the fire pit was smoking and there were 1/2 full plastic soda bottles tossed into the coals and evidently they had eggs for breakfast because there were the shells from the eggs tossed into the creek. I went back to my camp and got a shovel but all I had were 12 oz water bottles and the plastic bag my store bought wood came in so I took it and dredged it in the creek about a dozen times making trips to the fire pit to put it out completely. I took all the junk out of the coals including cans and the shells out of the creek and hauled them off. Kinda ticked me off that fellow hunters would do that in such a remote area not to mention that there is a ranch with a house and out buildings less than 100 yards away. Definitely not setting a good example for their kids.

Good deal. Looking forward to the story behind it.

I was going to go to Woods Canyon on Saturday to camp with my brother but decided that the weather was going to nasty and with him being here on vacation from NY he was here for some sunshine. So I took him to the range for some shooting. We did go up yesterday and caught a few before the wind kicked up it heels. It was a good thing we didn't go up on Saturday since the campgrounds were still closed.

Exciting stuff. I saw a bear while driving to scout for turkey so I bought a tag, just in case but I did not see one while on my hunt last week.

Beautiful sheath.

I don't know why but was thinking that they may have joined as a requirement to be be included in having a voice in the decision making process in the future. Kidso, I had friend who was sleeping on the ground in his sleeping bag on the mountain NE of Punkin Center and a bear came into camp during the night and grabbed him by the head and started dragging him away. He was with some friends and there was a dog or two in camp when the bear came in but they managed to chase it away. He ended up having to get rabies shots and the bear was never caught. I would be leery of sleeping on the ground.

Congrats that's a great write up. I can't wait till next year.

I cooked it last night. It was soooooo tender, but pretty salty from the brine it was in. The recipe called for 24 to 48 hours in the brine so I left it in for 40. It was also the most flavorful bird I have ever had. I pulled the recipe off the NWTF website which called for a lot of herbs, 4 -5 cups of salt, a gallon of water 60oz of beer and a bottle of dry white wine.

I just wanted to give a Big Thank You to Ammon Talbot. Without his talented craftsmanship and gift for making these calls my hunt may not have been such a success this morning.

In my experience with bees once they move into some sort of cavity they are going to build a hive. This time of year new queens will hatch and either kill the existing queen or more likely fly away to start a new colony with most of the existing hive. When the Queen gets tired she will land to rest for a couple of days while and they clump up around her to protect her while a few of them look for a place t build a hive.

Thanks Guys. This bird had another Tom with him and no Hens. The morning started off with my brother and I at a spot where I knew that birds always roost, year after year. There were two Toms and a few hens. As we got closer into the area where they were we got busted by the Hen's which started to make a nervous chirping sound. They did not see us but it was dry and they obviously could hear us and the closest on was probably 30 yards away. The Toms were gobbling away and were about 200 yards away in the creek bottom. One Hen was near the roosting tree and the other was about 75 yards away on the other side of the creek. This was about 5:30am. I started calling using Hen sounds and the Hens would reply back to each series of my calls. The Toms would gobble back and after about 5 minutes they started to get closer. After another 10 minutes or they had gotten to within about 40 yards but something I did with the call shut them down and they left. They were below me and there was a lot of brush between us and I did not see them. They moved off about 100 yards still gobbling so I followed them at distance but I knew they were pretty close to the edge of the ranch that was there so I backed off. I got back to my brother, who was visiting from NY and did not have a tag and we went back to the truck. We drove about a 3/4" of a mile back toward camp to hunt an area I roosted birds last week which was also in the same direction as where the birds were headed. We parked the truck and headed down the mountain to the creek bottom and had gone about 100 yards when my brother said he heard a gobble. He does not hunt so I asked him in which direction and he pointed to the southeast. I took out the box call and did a couple of Hen called and two birds gobbled back from what sounded like 35 yards. Out eyes went wide open and I wondered how we had walked past them without spooking them! We immediately started to setup and I took off my frame pack and put on my face net and gloves as my brother got into position behind me. I started to call and they gobbled right back. I answered right back getting a bit more aggressive and louder with the call to try to sound like an excited Hen. I will say at this point that I have never called in a Turkey before and I was making it up as I went along. They gobbled back so I put the call down and shouldered the shotgun. I looked out through the brush and told my brother "here they come". I could see them walking to us in single file and they then went into some brush for a few seconds. The first one came out and he was walking to the right and not straight to us. I had a feeling it was going to try and go around us so as soon as it stopped for a split second I shot and he went down. I jumped up and ran to it stopping to go under a barbed wire fence. It was about 7:15. My brother came over and we took some pictures. He then went back and retrieved my pack and I met him at the fence. I took my range finder out of the pack and ranged the spot from where I shot, 28 yards. I then ranged the bird which was 12 yards. I used an old Remington Duplex 2x4 load I had a few left which I have had for ages. We went back to camp and cleaned the bird before packing up to leave. All in all a great time with my brother.

AZ G&F Posted this on FB. The 28 cooperating agency and stakeholder groups that developed and support this alternative are: Cooperating Agencies Arizona Game and Fish Department Eastern Arizona Counties Organization Gila County (AZ) Graham County (AZ) Greenlee County (AZ) Navajo County (AZ) Stakeholders Supporting this Alternative as a Starting Point for Further Discussion Anglers United Arizona Antelope Foundation Arizona BASS Arizona Big Game Super Raffle Arizona Cattle Growers’ Association Arizona Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation Arizona Deer Association Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society Arizona Elk Society Arizona Houndsmen Arizona Sportsmen for Wildlife Conservation Arizona Trappers Association Arizona Wildlife Federation Big Game Forever ES Advisement, LLC (AZ) Coconino Sportsmen Outdoor Experience 4 All Phoenix Varmint Callers, Inc. Sportsmen’s Constituent Group The BASS Federation The Mule Deer Foundation 1-2-3-Go In addition, the Yuma Valley Rod and Gun Club also supports the alternative, making it 29 groups.

The only wolf I ever say was in the early 90's in Unit 29, and I'd like to keep it that way.